Charcoal painting is a medium of art form that uses sticks of charred wood instead of any colored pigments. Charcoal art can be found as finished drawings as well preliminary outlines. The best & most unique thing of using charcoal medium is that they can be easily erased & smudged, offering a great technique to create textures, build tones, and rectify mistakes.

Charcoal is often used for roughing an outline on a large canvas or mural before finishing the artwork with oil paint or acrylic. Charcoal art is thus very much similar to pencil sketches but provide a darker & more vibrant gradient than graphite pencils. To make a charcoal sketch long lasting, a sealant like gum or resin is usually used.

Charcoal drawings have been a part of the larger artistic ecosystem of the world for a long time and have been adapted to different stylistic traditions over the time. Drawings using charcoal as a medium have survived from the 16th & 17th centuries, and have flourished from the 19th and well into the 21st century.

Materials required for charcoal art are simple & inexpensive. All you need is:

• Charcoal sticks
• Sanding block
• Charcoal pencils
• White charcoal
• Kneaded eraser
• Blending tools
• Toned papers

Learner’s outcome

• Charcoal art is beginner friendly, especially for those trained in pencil sketching.
• Charcoal is a natural material and hence perhaps the safest & most environment friendly medium for art.
• Using charcoal as a medium makes the artwork versatile and provides the artists the liberty to experiment with different tones & techniques.
• Charcoal painting helps in learning about tonal values.
• The painting supplies are really inexpensive.

Learn charcoal art today at Oak Groves and explore your creative half. Discover our expert-led Charcoal Painting courses today! Anyone can learn, there’s no age restrictions!

Prerequisites

• An interest to learn.